


The nights I didn't see you grow up

by munchingtin



Category: Batman (Comics), Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: (villain genetically engineered rats), Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Harm to Animals, Hurt Stephanie Brown, Protective Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21635515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/munchingtin/pseuds/munchingtin
Summary: Stephanie allows herself to be captured to save a civilian little boy. When Red Robin comes to her rescue she realises that Tim changed a lot while he was away.
Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake
Comments: 4
Kudos: 79





	The nights I didn't see you grow up

Stephanie arched her elbows and steadied the muscles in her upper arms. She breathed twice through her mask before he pulled. Her wrists screamed at her to stop but she would not. She saw and felt the skin through her torn uniform stretch and tear with the force. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she kept pulling. Her wrists did not come loose.

She cursed and let her arms go limp. She breathed through the throbbing of pain and watched as some splotches of blood blossomed where the cuffs shred her skin off. At least her legs were still free, and she could kick away the rats that were circling her.

The rats showed signs of rot and broken bones with patches of fur and flesh torn and falling off. Some of the animals died on their own but the deterioration of their bodies did not stop them from attacking and snapping their teeth.

It did not help Stephanie's situation that they had swollen to the size of small dogs.

Stephanie kicked another rat with the heel of her shoe. It screeched and clawed at her ankles before the momentum shook him off. It crashed to the cement floor and from the sound of it broke the bones in his little legs. The rat scrambled back up on its front paws and joined the circling rats again to watch Stephanie in the centre.

She had originally been kneeling on the floor with her hands tied to the ground in front of her. She had long since twisted herself however far she could strain her body in attempts to get loose and fend off the rats attacking her.

The villain stood above the pit and watched on with mild curiosity. Stephanie did not know who the man was or why he showed up during her case, but he was clear trouble. She was glad she had managed to get the word out of her predicament before she allowed her hands to be tied up.

The little boy would not have managed as well as she had in here. Now he was relatively safe and unharmed. He was crying in fear and undoubtedly traumatized beyond belief, but he was alive and as long as Stephanie could hold on he would continue to be so.

Another rat charged her and got its teeth in her thigh. She arched her back and twisted her torso in an awkward angle to crush the animal under her weight. It did not die as she hoped and managed to scramble away from underneath her leg. It snarled and squeaked before it hurried back to the group. Just like the appearance and sounds of the animals, the behaviour of the rats was equally unnatural. Even so, their behaviour was too animalistic and instinctual to be controlled directly by a person.

The man watching on had his hands now clenched together and seemed more fascinated as time passed on. His attention was now fully on Stephanie as she evaded as much damage as she could, and he left the crying boy to fend for himself. It was better that way.

‘Ha.’ Spoiler snickered at the man. ‘Joke’s on you. I always show up to get my shots.’

The man rolled his eyes with a longsuffering sigh and leaned over the railing. ‘They’re not infectious, rats are naturally very clean animals’ he explained, eager to tell someone about his genius. ‘But once they put their mind to something, they do not stop until they’re dead. Everyone in Gotham can tell you how resilient they are.’

‘They sure are,’ Stephanie mocked. ‘Until you give them a good spray. Then they’ll be down in seconds. I know a guy who knows a guy and he is really good at this sort of stuff.’

‘How cruel!’ The man stomped on the metal bridge. The sounds disturbed the rats with enhanced hearing, and they screeched and clawed at themselves. Some scattered in response to the noise and, in their blind panic, continued to crash into the wall until they stopped moving. Stephanie winced. She was not the one being cruel here.

She quickly scrambled for a topic to talk about when she noticed something was off. Of course, that was when her mind remained stubbornly blank, so she practically ended up stuttering in her attempt to keep his attention on her. ‘You’re not going to get away with any of this.’ Which was so lame. Whoever had heard that better not be relaying that to anyone, ever. She was still relatively inexperienced compared to everyone else. She thought she should be forgiven for some awful lines before she could quip like a pro.

‘Yes I will,’ the villain chuckled. ‘Because the rats will eat up all evidence!’

Stephanie shrieked more out of surprise than pain when a rat darted out of nowhere and bit her calf. She kicked it off with her feet and listened anxiously to the man's laughing.

Good. Stephanie hoped that the bastard stayed distracted and would not notice that someone got the little boy safely out of the room.

Stephanie did not have to wait long because the man ceased laughing and broke into a pained scream. Satisfied that the rats were content with circling her again, she looked up to the bridge to watch what was going on. She sighed with relief when she saw Red Robin standing tall with his bo staff spinning in his hand.

‘How did you get passed my men?’ the man shrieked. He was kicked back quite a way to the end of the bridge. Stephanie watched with satisfied glee as he scrambled himself off the floor in a desperate way to keep his dignity.

‘Your men?’ Red Robin asked and he did not look down at Stephanie. ‘They were nothing.’

Stephanie’s heart chilled and she shivered despite herself. She was not used to Tim sounding cold like that. Not since he returned with an alive and well Batman in tow. Truth be told she had not patrolled much with _Red Robin_ at all. He was often busier on his computer, working on whatever he had been obsessed with at that particular time. Then he would go out alone some night and work on a new project right after.

Oracle once complained she sometimes heard there had been a crook on the loose only after Tim had already cleared everything up. It had kept her up at night trying to trace his patterns, trying to beat him to the punch. Apparently, Tim had not taken the bait yet. Stephanie and Barbara guessed it was only a matter of time but now she was not so sure.

Without any indication as of why Tim flicked his staff to the floor which resulted in a loud metallic clank. Stephanie startled and her eyes widened when she saw a rat out the corner of her eye quickly dart away from her. She had not noticed it sneaking up on her, but Tim plainly had and acted accordingly in an instance.

‘Call the rats back,’ Red Robin suggested simply. ‘Don’t do anything stupid.’

‘You think you scare me?’ The man raised a gun. The same gun he used to threaten the little boy with before. The villain realised that at the same time Stephanie did and looked around frantically. When he could not find his hostage he snarled. Not once did he lower the gun from where he pointed it at Tim’s chest.

‘Do it then,’ Tim said. He sounded soft to Stephanie even as her blood ran impossibly colder. ‘You’re not the first to point that at me and you’re not going to be the first to miss.’ He stepped forward once before sprinting at the man at full speed.

The gun went off and missed. Tim had jumped up on the railing and balanced on it while he ran for the villain without hesitation. He skipped and landed in front of the man, his palm rising upward. He hit the villain underneath his chin and brought his right fist forward to punch him in the throat. He then jabbed two fingers against what Stephanie assumed would be the man’s larynx. 

The gun clattered on the bridge. The man buckled forward and fell on his knees. He hackled for a few breaths and then threw up all over the floor. His bile ran through the holes of the surface and landed in the pit Stephanie was in. Quickly, the rats dodged out of the way before it splattered over them.

The smell reached their enhanced noses and they let out horrid screams, clawing at one another to scatter away from the sick.

Stephanie felt much like throwing up herself. That was not a move Batman taught her and she sincerely doubted he ever showed it to Tim. It also was not a lethal attack so he could not have picked it up during his time with the Shadows. A time he refused to tell anyone about.

Stephanie realised it must be a technique he had to have taught himself. The sole intent of it appeared to be making someone sick and expunge their stomach acids. This was not the strategy of attacking someone until they were too bruised to pick up and aim a gun properly. Which was what Stephanie did before Batman trained her. It had been Batman who taught Stephanie cleaner ways to incapacitate someone. He taught her direct hits to render someone unconscious fast and with minimal damage. That was how the vigilantes in Gotham fought.

Tim did not do that just now. This was Tim subduing his opponent. Stephanie never considered there to be a difference between overpowering or incapacitating an opponent but now the difference was as clear as day.

A movement and Stephanie was back in the present. She reacted before she thought and kneed a rat away from her while another got a hold of her ankle. She spun around and dragged the animal over the floor fast enough to cause friction burn. The rat broke its leg because of it and limped as quickly as it could away from her.

Stephanie’s abdominal muscles burned in protest at the force she had to put behind it. Her wrists started to bleed again when she used that move. 

‘Call them back,’ Red Robin repeated above her. She did not look up when she heard another clank from his bo staff that scattered the rats back again. ‘And you may keep your other arm.’

Before Stephanie could even consider what that meant, a loud snap echoed through the room. She felt a wave of nausea run through her.

It was not rare for any of them to resort to breaking a few bones before the night was over. Some nights a lot of bones ended of broken. Barbara had once confessed to Stephanie about a night that went so bad she beat up the Mad Hatter really bad. If it had not been for Dick she would have killed him too.

So yes, Stephanie knew perfectly well how heated a battle could get. She was used to how emotions could make someone react differently in stressful situations. Her mom would tell her about it when she came home tired and upset from a stressful day at the hospital. She had seen and experienced it herself in the streets too.

This was different. When Stephanie had to intimidate someone she ended up calling in Batman. She just did not have that reputation yet when it came to the big leagues.

Red Robin never called Batman in. Now seemed no exception. And Red Robin also did not have the street credit yet that demanded respect. So this is how he did it instead.

It was logical and Stephanie hated it.

A high-pitched tone sounded through the room and the rats ran to one corner of the pit, all huddled up together.

Tim was in front of her. The bo staff was behind his back and his other hand was hanging awkwardly in front of her face. It looked too much like he had wanted to help her up, saw the cuffs, and was too late to take his hand back. ‘Spoiler?’

‘Yes.’ Stephanie pulled herself together and sat on her scraped knees. She winced. ‘Yeah, cuffs, nasty things.’

‘Yeah,’ Tim agreed dumbly, and he placed the staff on the ground. He used a key he must have gotten from the man when she had been distracted before. The sound also must have been activated by Tim in order to attract the rats away from two human-sized snacks. He unlocked the handcuffs and again offered his hand to help her up.

Tim always offered unless he was too distracted and just picked someone up when it took too long. More often than not Tim would forget altogether because his mind worked too fast for most people to keep up with him. Now he waited patiently. It was like he did not even breathe he stood that still while he waited for her to do something already.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked eventually when she just did not move. ‘Should I call…’ Someone, Stephanie guessed he was going to say. Red Robin did not call anyone in on principle. Stephanie did not really want to think about why that is the case. She knew well enough. She grabbed his hand and held on tightly as he pulled her up.

He was strong. Stronger than he was when he was tripping over her rooftop as Robin and sprinting in the night after Batman. Robin was always running _after_ Batman and very rarely _together_ with him.

That also was something Stephanie had come to understand only later. After she experienced what it meant to be Robin. Even if it was only for a short while it was enough to understand, she thought. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe she still did not really understand what it meant to be a Robin.

Tim pat her on the shoulder and pocked her in her side. She flinched because she was ticklish and Tim sort of smiled at that. Stephanie let her shoulders drop, both annoyed and happy that he checked her for injuries. ‘I’m just a bit scratched up. Where’s the kid?’

‘Hm.' Tim seemed preoccupied about something else. 'He’s fine. Called the cops before I came in, so he is waiting outside.’

That was confident of him. Very confident and also very harsh to hear coming from him. He expected to be long gone by the time the cops would arrive. It was probably why he was so fidgety too, telling her to hurry up without actually wanting to order her around. Tim was sweet to her like that.

She had missed him during the time he had left without a trace. When her worry seemed to increase every night without a call, without a goodbye, without anything at all. She really had missed him.

And now all she could think of was the clean sound of snapping bone and a shrill scream right after.

‘Well, get out of here then,’ the little nickname she used to call him almost spilt over her lips. It did not feel right to say right now. ‘My night’s a bust anyway.’

‘Not really,’ Tim handed over a USB from one of his pockets. ‘Here, I took it from the terminal. It looks like this one was trading drugs with your guy after all. Like you said he would be. Interesting how he branched into this from steroids, but I’m sure you’ll figure it out.’

Stephanie pushed the USB back to Tim’s chest. The updated symbol was more familiar to her now that she had just this tad bit of new information about the journey Tim had been on. ‘You should hold on to it. Faster, you know?’

Tim folded her fingers over the USB and arched her hand so that she had a firm grip on it. Her wrist burned from the injuries the handcuffs left behind but Tim did not seem to be aware of that. He smiled softly. He did not smile often anymore, and he was so out of practice it broke her heart a little. ‘It’s your case.’

He had not denied that he would be faster. That hurt, if Stephanie was honest to herself. Instead, she had to acknowledge that Tim was trying to be kind-hearted by ignoring the logical solution here. Stephanie grinned brightly and took the USB with bravado. ‘It sure is. And I’ll solve it too.’ Good behaviour should be encouraged.

Stephanie could see Tim roll his eyes even behind the lenses of his cowl. A resigned sigh escaped him, and he seemed to slouch ever so slightly. It lasted for only a moment and it was overall too dramatic for Tim, but it was much better than that clear snap of a broken bone and the shrill scream that came afterwards.

Tim swayed on the heels of his boots for a bit before he stretched his arm out and wrapped Stephanie in a one-armed hug. She froze in his hold and did not move like a deer caught in headlights. It was as though she just now noticed how much broader he was since his Robin days. More solid and grounded, and less like an airheaded kid flying in the sky. They both had changed so much, and it was so unfair that he had to change like that.

‘You probably shouldn’t grapple yourself up with your wrists like that,’ Tim explained. ‘Hold on, okay?’

She did and Tim safely grappled the both of them out of the pit seemingly without straining himself. She wanted to point out that there was a ladder they each could have used but she did not want to ruin this moment. Both of their suits were designed to keep out the cold and regulate their temperature, so his chest was a welcomed warmth in this chilly night. She had missed him so badly she had been angry when he came back. Now she just wanted him to stay.

‘Thanks.’ Stephanie let go and spun the USB by its cord. Tim pulled his face and looked half-tempted to snatch it in the air. It made him look ridiculous. ‘For walking all the way over to the terminal to get me this.’

‘Of course,’ Tim said on autopilot and he stepped back. Stephanie took the opportunity to look around. Indeed, she saw the little boy looking at them from a distance where he sat just outside the warehouse. Like Tim said he would be. Tim must have opened that door at some point, somehow, because Stephanie had sneaked in through the window.

The room itself was filled with unconscious men that lay scattered over the floor. Their guns were all out of their reach now. Stephanie had sneaked past them at first before she got spotted and had to save the hostage.

She turned around to ask Tim about it, but the room was empty. Again she was left without a goodbye. She was resigned to that by now in Gotham, so it did little to upset her even more than she already was.

Stephanie stumbled a bit when she exited the warehouse. She squatted down next to the boy who looked the calmest she had seen him all night. She would wait with him there until the police finally showed up. If what Tim had said was true then they should not be much longer. The boy looked at her expectedly and she realised he was not calm at all. He was just too tired to cry anymore. ‘Is the scary man gone?’

Stephanie thought of Tim before she thought of the villain who could control those enhanced rats. It really had been a ridiculously loud snap for a single bone to break. ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Yeah, he’s gone.’


End file.
